After connecting with some great school leaders across the nation via Twitter (and with some encouragement), I am very excited to post my first blog. Here we go:
First, let me state that this is not intended to offend any school administrator, leader, or any female in a leadership position, for that matter. But am I the only one blown away by how few male administrators there are? Or is it just my district?
I can only use my personal experience, and realistically, I am still on the "youthful" side of experience. But numbers don't lie. This summer, I was a finalist for a High School Assistant Principal position in my current district after completing the initial interview in January. I do remember the first round of interviews and wondering, "Where are all the male administrators?", as I sat in the "waiting room" and did not see another male interviewee the entire time I was there.
Twenty-five of us had survived the first round of interviews in January and we now were interviewing with individual Principal's. Out of 25 finalists, I was one of FOUR males. Four. When allowed the opportunity to ask, "What are you looking for in your new Assistant Principal?", I was pleased to hear "male" each time. At least I couldn't answer that question incorrectly.
But it hit me again big time as I attended a terrific Professional Development on Friday. Approximately 33 Principal's/AP's attended a district PD on SMART Goals. Out of 33 current administrators, I could count the number of males on one hand. Exactly five. Statistically speaking, that is consistent with the interview finalist pool.
So where did all the male administrators go?
My current admin team make-up is a male Principal, a male AP (me!), and two female AP's. Nice balance. But, as previously mentioned, my district is lacking in male administration.
Let's look at my previous school (different district). I was hired by a male Principal, but both principals that followed were female (seven year span). That school currently has a female Principal, two females Assistant Principal's, one female Dean of Students (same duties), and one male Dean. So 80% of that admin team is female.
My wife works in a high school where both the Principal and lone Assistant Principal are both female.
Was it always this way? I had to think back to my secondary school experience: In "junior high", I had a male Principal and male Assistant Principal. In high school, same exact thing (I actually had two different Principal's in HS, both male).
In my graduate courses, it seemed that the classes were pretty balanced with males and females. I even asked a buddy of mine who is in his first semester of grad school and his "cohort" is four males and five females. It's not like males aren't pursuing degrees in administration.
So what is happening to all the male administrators?
I will say that the majority of my new Twitter connections are males (#edchat #cpchat), but I am very curious if there is a lack of male school administrators in other districts? Other parts of the country?
Are we becoming few and far between? What is happening to all the male administrators?
I appreciate any responses related to this point.
Thanks for reading and please follow me @CSmithGoBlue
CS
The opinions shared in this blog belong to Craig Smith and do not represent the school or district in which he works.
